Help me plan Children's Photography Workshop

[AlbertZeroK]

I volunteered to assist with a Children's workshop at our local YMCA. I thought, kewl, they will have a lesson plan, etc and I'll just skate though... if only it were so.

They have 5 digital cameras, 5 students (ages 9-12) and no lesson plan... HELP! (I think it's a total of 10 1 hour classes)

Okay, so I have experience volunteering with children in this age range and am an outgoing guy so I don't think that will be an issue, plus someone on staff from the YMCA will be in with me. But I think I need to come up with a lesson plan. This is what I have so far:

Class 1 - This is a camera. I wanted to bring pictures printed from different cameras, from my pro stuff to some taken from an iPhone or my Android and some taken with a point and shoot. Really drive home, equipment is only part of the equation. Plus do a walk though of how to hold a camera.

Class 2 - Talk about light. I though of working through light in a fashion they could understand. So talk about how when someone shines a bright light in your face, that you can't see anything else over that light. Or how it takes you a few seconds to make out things in the dark. Then talk about how a camera works.

Class 3 - Photos are everywhere. Class project, give each of the 5 children a small area to photograph in and let them make pictures, so one person would get an office, one person the storage closet, one person the class room, etc. I would go around first to make sample pictures with the same camera before the class.

Class 4 - Outdoor Photography.

Class 5 - Outdoor Photography Project - go outside and shoot in a limited space. LIke the indoor project from class 3.

Class 6 - Composition. Negative Space, Rule of Thirds, Fill the Frame. Go through different pictures taken by the children and show how cropping can make them look like different pictures. Perhaps make a match game to match the original picture with the cropped picture.

Class 7 - Photographing People

Class 8 - Free Lance shooting around the YMCA. Let children go around and take pictures of stuff they think they would like.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I think your class looks like a lot of fun. The one other thing I would do the first class would be to show them basic usage and let them loose with the camera. You could use these pictures throughout the class as tools to demonstrate things that you are talking about. Then, during the last class, you could have them recreate some of their own pictures using what they have learned to give them a great visual of how far they have come.

 

[pjacobi]

Bring in a simple magnifying lens and build a camera obscura in a shoe box. Demonstrate focusing and f/stops. Show that the resulting image is upside-down! Yep, the image is upside-down in all cameras.


-Paul

 

[MICKEY88]

Class 3 - Photos are everywhere. Class project, give each of the 5 children a small area to photograph in and let them make pictures, so one person would get an office, one person the storage closet, one person the class room, etc. I would go around first to make sample pictures with the same camera before the class.



Class 5 - Outdoor Photography Project - go outside and shoot in a limited space. LIke the indoor project from class 3.

Class 6 - Composition. Negative Space, Rule of Thirds, Fill the Frame. Go through different pictures taken by the children and show how cropping can make them look like different pictures. Perhaps make a match game to match the original picture with the cropped picture.



.

3 , maybe rotate them tru the 5 work areas so they can photograph each and then see that different people see different photo ops within a scene


5. same as #3

6. move up earlier , perhaps #3 position

and let them take pictures each lesson, so they don't lose interest in the first 3 weeks..

 

[ukcatfan]

Photo scavenger hunt around the Y?

Do you have access to computers where you could show them some PP?

 

[Icemann]

In class one just give them a camera and tell them to take pictures,this way you have an idea of what their skill level is and work from their just a thought.Sounds like a neat class Good Luck